A Russian researcher claims to have developed an USB stick that can physically damage a computer.

Read the full article here: [http://www.myce.com/news/researcher-develops-usb-stick-can-physically-damage-computers-75341/](http://www.myce.com/news/researcher-develops-usb-stick-can-physically-damage-computers-75341/)
Please note that the reactions from the complete site will be synched below.

The electronics on that “USB stick” appear similar to those in a DC-to-DC converter, so I’ve no doubt about it creating a high voltage and physically damaging whatever device it is plugged into.

However, I doubt it will produce anything more spectacular than a burnt electronics smell and maybe a puff of smoke with most devices. There will likely be the odd exception where this damage will lead to some electronics going into short-circuit and in turn conducting a large current from the power supply, which could result in a fire.

It wouldn’t be particularly hard to build a simple circuit that has a few small inductors that use the USB port to charge the inductors (maybe individually charged capacitors, which then the circuit connects serially) and then connect them all back across the USB (data) terminals, or the power terminals.

A fraction of a second at several times the rated current should easily kill something. Implementations of USB circuit protection would differ between manufacturers, and at the end of the day, the cheapest (likely the most inferior) implementation makes the most profit for the manufacturer.

Quite frankly, sticking a dead short across the USB power terminals might very well trip the micro-fuses, rendering the USB port useless until it’s fixed.

This is more a case of damage caused by physical methods than any sort of hack though.

The BBC Micro from many years ago was the only machine I’ve ever heard of where malware could physically destroy it as it was actually possible for hackers to alter the voltages across the motherboard via software.